Something You Need to Know About Ash’s Death in Banana Fish?

1. Does Ash Die in Banana Fish?

The final episode of Banana Fish brings everything together. The captives are freed, Foxx and Golzine are killed, and the Banana Fish project’s evidence is destroyed.

Sing also decides not to confront Ash and persuades Yut-Lung to abandon his pursuit of them.

Everything appears to be going well as Eiji departs for Japan and Ash walks towards the library while reading the letter the former left him, that is until Ash is stabbed.

After being stabbed, Ash walks to the library to finish reading Eiji’s letter, but he dies there from blood.

As evidenced by MAPPA, his condition is recognized in the anime, and the conclusion is left open. However, it is considered that he has perished based on the source material.

2. Who Killed Him?

Despite the fact that Ash and Sing were supposed to battle to the death, they ultimately opted not to. However, it turned out that Lao was completely unaware of their truce. He stabbed Ash, who was distracted by Eiji’s letter, in order to defend Sing.

Following his stabbing, Ash shoots Lao and returns to the library to finish reading Eiji’s letter. He rests his head on it after a while, and the series comes to an end. Despite the fact that the ending is left open, it is likely that Ash perished.

3. Why didn’t Ash seek assistance?

After finishing Eiji’s letter, Ash died. This suggests there was a long period of time during which he may have sought help and so avoided death. The question is, why didn’t he do it?

Ash stated these few phrases in volume 12 of the manga, which completely address this topic.

“Just leave me alone, I’m happy. There’s at least one person in this world who cares about me, who doesn’t want anything from me. Do you have any idea what that’s like? I never did. Not once in my entire life until now. And that’s worth more to me than anything else. It is better to be destroyed than living a life on a stage set and pretending its real.” – Ash Lynx

For the sake of his and Eiji’s happiness, Ash was willing to let himself be destroyed.

It took all of Ash’s willpower not to sprint after Eiji to the airport when he had to let him go, and see how quickly that changed after reading his letter.

While we all assumed that everything was finished and that Ash could go to Japan to start a new life with Eiji, it turned out to be nothing more than a fleeting moment of innocence and optimism.

Despite being forced into this terrible existence, Ash was a part of it, and disaster always seemed to find him.

The reason Ash chose suicide rather than seeking aid was that no matter how hard he and Eiji tried to be happy together, something would always come along to threaten them.

Ash did not want to lose the feeling of pure bliss he had experienced. He didn’t want to go through the agony of having it taken away from him once more. As a result, Ash died remembering Eiji and knowing that his soul will always be with him. He knew the guy he loved was safe in his final moments, and that was all Ash cared about; this was his bliss.

4. Why was it necessary for Ash to die at the end?

Yoshida, the creator of Banana Fish, explained why Ash was always destined to die at the end of the series in an interview.

She claimed that, despite the fact that her protagonists are forced into a way of life and kill because they would otherwise be killed, they are still killers in the end.

Those who take another person’s life must make amends with their own. As a result, Ash had to die in the end.

Yoshida went on to say that the original idea for Banana Fish was that people who die early have a tragic quality to them, similar to how Ash lived his entire life in 17 years rather than the 70.

In his lifetime, he endured, loved, and experienced far more than the average human. He had lived his life, and it was only natural that it would come to an end at some point.